Re: as much, if not more, energy to mine
I live in an area where hand mining is still popular. Gold has been mined here for over 100 years and there are a few larger operations as well. So, I get to see how this business works, and it is clear that what they used to say in the old days when there was a much higher yield, is still true today: "for every dollar you take out of the ground, you put 10 dollars in." The fact of the matter is that most of the money involved is from investors who don't actually participate actively, and the money is all on the stock market. Most mines fail, and get reopened with new investors later until all the infrastructure is eventually paid for. I suggest that the numbers assumed in this article are likely out by a factor of ten to one.
It is fashionable to bash cryptocurrency for its energy use, and it does seem to be wasteful, but in reality it may well be that physical gold mining eats up more resources when you include the total financial costs.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
